Donghae gasps for air, as the dark sea crashes over him, threatening to take him under its rage. The sky roared, with flashes of lightning racing each other across the world. Donghae holds on to his piece of driftwood as another tall wave rose up and hit him. The sea pulls him, and pushes him back, unrelenting like a monster who had its grip on their victim. The rain beats him hard, and every hit feels like a punch to make him let go.

“Dad!” Donghae calls, coughing and choking on the salty seawater. “Sungmin hyung!”

“Donghae!” He hears his older brother shout.

“Where’s dad?!”

Donghae sees a humongous wave rise, until he can no longer look up and find the sky. Donghae closes his eyes as the sea swallows him under, dragging him further from the surface. His body shakes uncontrollably, desperate to get some air. The currents under the ocean drag him back and forth, messing with him like he was just some kind of toy. They were like little hands, tossing and turning him, and Donghae gets swept by their strength.

Suddenly, a pair of arms come around him. It was dark, but he could feel someone’s lithe body fighting the sea’s hold to swim up. They finally break through the surface, and Donghae, amidst the wrathful storm and after coughing a copious amount of seawater, stares at the beautiful creature in front of him. The man blinks at him slowly, and Donghae notices his doe eyes first. They were dark, but suddenly they were also the blue sea, and the silver lining of the clouds covering the golden sun.

Donghae’s hand comes up to brush his webbed ear, and traces the silver and emerald veins, and he marvels at this creature. Despite the world throwing a tantrum around them, it is quiet between them.

“Hello,” Donghae breathes.

Those eyes implored him, and Donghae finds a mole under one of his eyes. Somehow, it fits there. Somehow, despite knowing only the sea, Donghae sees the whole earth in front of him. He imagines that it glows like a thousand glittering lights, and that it has forests and mountains, and some pale sand like his skin.

The world goes dark, and the creature takes him under, and they ride out its power. Then, they break to the surface again.

“Please,” Donghae splutters. “I’ll be fine-help my family.”

The creature presses his plump lips together, frantically looking around for something that Donghae can hold on to.

The creature opens his mouth and Donghae almost melts at its angelic sound.

“Can you climb?” He asks.

Donghae stares at him, and realizes that there are jutting rocks near them. They are black and hulking, and the sea crashes against them like a scream-a thousand deafening waterfalls echoing.

Donghae pushes himself up on a rock, and holds on to it with his dear life. The creature stares at him, a small, gentle smile playing on his lips. They look like a sunset, just as disappears from the horizon after fully embracing the sea.

“Will I see you again?” Donghae yells after him, trying to compete with a hundred other voices.

The creature shrugs as it swims away, and then he dives into the sea. Donghae gasps in wonder as he saw his iridescent silver tail, like the moon, with stars, and blue and green planets, and galaxies with the most luminous constellations.

~

Donghae’s father, Leeteuk, did not remember any of the events of the night that he almost died. He remembers Sungmin dragging him to land, and passing out, to find that the sun had greeted him and that the sea had calmed, bearing no trace of its anger. Donghae washes up to the shore as well, but he remembers that beautiful creature who saved him. Try as he might, his savior will forever be etched into his mind. He was simply everywhere Donghae looked.

“You okay?” His brother asks as he begins to assemble the foundation of their new boat.

Donghae spaces out, holding the hammer idly. “Does dad not really remember that night?”

Sungmin really looks at his brother, and for the first time, he notices that he had a dampened spirit for a while now. “Why are you still stuck on that night? It happens to every fisherman.”

Donghae shakes his head stubbornly. “Didn’t you meet him?”

“Who?” Sungmin sighs, a little exasperated.

Donghae shrugs. “I don’t know his name, but he saved us.”

Sungmin curses at Donghae. While he has a pretty face, like any other fisherman by the sea, his mouth produces obscenities as if he was breathing.

“Okay, okay,” Donghae relents.

~

Donghae, in hopes of avoiding with helping Sungmin rebuild their boat, dives into the cool sea to hide. He swims a bit far from the shore, and spots Kangin’s fishing boat. He peeks over and sees the older man napping, his arms crossed under his head and his straw hat over his face to protect his skin from the sun. Donghae shrugs, about to swim away when he heard a small cry on the other side of the boat.

“Hello?” Donghae whispers.

“Hmm, hello pretty boy,” the voice replied nervously. “I saved you from the sea once. I didn’t expect you to come back to it.”

Donghae smiles and swims on the other side of the boat with excitement. However, the smile is pulled from his face when he saw the beautiful creature that had saved him once trapped in a net.

He swims closer, kicking his legs underneath him to keep him afloat. He studies the net, slightly lifting it to see where the creature’s body starts and ends. He takes his knife from its straps around his thigh and carefully cuts the net open.

Donghae backs away to the side and lifts the net, so the creature can slide out. He holds his breath as he watches him gracefully float on the waters.

He offers a smile that shows his pink gums and Donghae sees his white as pearl teeth. Then he holds out his pale, slender fingers.

“I wasn’t wrong about you,” he states.

He encloses his fingers with his hand, marveling at how soft it feels. “My name is Donghae.”

The creature drags Donghae away, and they dive into the sea.

And Donghae forgets how to breathe.